PREPOTENCY 559 



living or dead, and he has no record; 1 Electioneer 125 comes 

 next, also with no record; then Nutwood, 2:i8| ; Belmont, no 

 record; followed by Almont, 2:39!; ^ Q ^ Wilkes, 2:40; and 

 Onward, 2:25!. 



From this showing of individuals we can argue either that the 

 great breeders were too busy to make racing records or that 

 breeding power is independent of the ability to perform. 



Neither conclusion is warranted. In the first place, the breed- 

 ing record of a stallion with a track record is injured by the 

 fact that he has little opportunity until his racing days are 

 over ; but it is helped by the fact that when he is sent to the 

 stud he has a superior class of mares. 



Again, it does not follow, if a horse has not made a track 

 record, that he should be considered as unable to do it. It may 

 be from some slight defect or from lack of proper training, from 

 some minor injury, or from one or more of a hundred other 

 causes having no connection whatever with his inherited ability 

 to go. 



Evidently, if we are to get any light upon this question from 

 this source, and it ought to be one of the best of sources for 

 information of this class, then we must obtain it from large 

 numbers, in which the breeding record of those known to be 

 performers is compared directly with that of those that have no 

 performance record. 



Accordingly a table was prepared exhibiting the breeding 

 record of 165 of the principal stallions. They were chosen from 

 the list of 207 that had produced ten or more sires of speed or 

 ten or more dams of speed, and included all individuals that Jiad 

 produced both performing and non-performing sires? except a very 

 few, the data for which were incomplete. The table shows, first 

 (column i), the total number of performers produced by the 



1 It was popularly believed that Hambletonian 10 could go in about 2:40, but 

 he was dead long before anybody knew his value as a breeder of speed. 



2 By " performers " is meant those that have a track record of 2:30, or better. 

 The term "non-performers" covers all without a record; it manifestly includes 

 two classes, those that might have made a record under suitable circumstances 

 and those that could not have done so under any circumstances. As there is no 

 way of distinguishing between these two, they are all called non-performers, and 

 the table makes a comparison between those that have made a record and all others, 

 able or unable, that have not done so. 



